Vulnerabilities Built in the Identities and Future Orientation of Roma Children and Youth

The article is based on research with different age segments of Roma children and youth, whose self-concepts are marked by the perceptions of the Roma identity in the public opinion. The authors look at vulnerabilities reflected in the identities of Roma school children of different ages, as they appear in children's self-esteem and future orientation. We show fragments of testimonials of children living in Roma communities and interpret them according to different psychological, psychoanalytical and social approaches. We reveal some of the unifying elements of all children’s identity formation, but also some of the context specific differential elements related to the development as a Roma child, living in a specific neighbourhood and learning in a certain school. Our goal is to draw attention to the mechanisms that can lower the educational aspirations of Roma children and adolescents and might contribute to the appearance of frustration and thus the reproduction of feelings of alterity and marginality.

Full Text